Leprosy was the most feared disease in the Bible. It wasn’t just the impending death. Other diseases were terminal. But leprosy was the disease that killed your life before you ever died.

The first mention of leprosy in historical documents was about 1500 BC. The Bible mentions it as early as the book of Leviticus where its description and treatment are listed in chapters 13 and 14. As the centuries progressed, most doctors considered leprosy a genetic disease. Finally on February 28, 1873, Dr. Gerhard Henrik Armauer Hansen of Sweden discovered the bacillus that caused leprosy, proving once and for all that it was indeed an infectious disease, and eventually giving his name to it: Hansen’s disease. The Bible seemed to realize from the beginning that it was infectious.

A leper was considered ceremonially “unclean,” Lev 13:46. That means he was no longer fit to even stand before God, much less serve Him. If he were a priest, he could not partake of the sacrifices, Lev 22:4. But no matter who he was, he was banned from the Temple, 2 Chron 26:21, and expelled from the people because his mere presence defiled the entire group, Num 5:2,3.

He lived in isolation with others who shared his doom, and was required to warn anyone who might come near him with the shout of, “Unclean! Unclean!” He had to make his disease obvious by his appearance, wearing torn clothes and leaving his hair loose and disheveled, with his upper lip covered, Lev 13:45.

Leprosy became a metaphor for sin in the Bible, as should be obvious from the verses cited above and their spiritual significance-not fit to serve God, not fit to enter into His presence, not fit to be with His people, in fact, one who would defile the whole people. God sent leprosy as a punishment several times—on Miriam, on Gehazi, on King Azariah/Uzziah. The progress of the physical disease begins with an invisible infection, leading to disfigurement, deterioration, and death. Surely you can see the progress of sin in a person’s life in parallel.

And that leaves us with two profound lessons. First, for Jesus to actually touch a leper and heal Him showed not only his power but also his mercy. And Jesus is the only one who can cure us of that disease called sin. He was the one who loved us enough to come down among all of us spiritual lepers, regardless of the danger of infection, and make us clean. How many of us are like the nine lepers instead of the Samaritan, who was so profoundly grateful for being cleansed that he would fall on his face in gratitude to the one who cleansed him, even if it delayed his symbolic entrance back into the fold?

And second, we should view sin as we view that awful disease. Too many times I see Christians who flock to other diseased (sinful) people, heedless of the risk of infection, in fact, hoping for it, rather than treating it like the life-endangering disease it is. Yes, we need to serve the sinners--by leading them home to the Great Physician, not by trying on their clothes, eating from their bowls, and rolling around in their beds. Sin, like leprosy, will make us outcasts from God, the only source of a cure. Don’t we realize that, or is it that we long to be lepers like the rest of the world?

And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed, Matt 8:2-3.

After I won the gunfight and a medal, it became painfully obvious that unlike a police force, the probation department would not allow me to return to the street work I loved. So I ended up with a similar job within the prison doing intake classification on newly sentenced inmates. I did not feel as useful, there were fewer opportunities to help, but it was a job, paid the bills. I was surprised how many prisoners came back again and again. So too do many Christians…

The second verse of “I’ll Fly Away” identifies the problem with the attitudes of many. “Like a bird from prison bars has flown, I’ll fly away.”

Why don’t we think of life as “prison bars?” Surely that is the implication of the song. Certainly, “When the shadows of this life have grown” implies the infirmities of age. But more seriously, we need to consider that life is a prison that keeps us from home whatever our health.

Have we become so comfortable on the compound that we no longer see the razor wire surrounding us? Everywhere we go there is corruption and wickedness. Instead of forming an escape committee to dig a tunnel, we long to join in. Many seek to blend in. Where is our holiness? Why do we not feel we are on “bread and water” rations as our beliefs are openly assaulted daily?

We line up to watch the latest movies, catch the latest TV series and these are full of foul language, but much worse, every portrayal of love is contrary to God’s view. Do we not feel brainwashed? Do you wonder whether the angels marvel that we willingly show up for such? Are we not like the recidivist inmates, going back to the hog trough again and again?

Even when one is young and full of health, life is a prison. We can never be with God until we escape. We can never be free from temptation and filth until we fly away. No wonder many churches are being overcome with carnality. We are not teaching people to want to get out of prison nor are we teaching them the way free people live. In fact, we have the key in our hands and with finality lock ourselves in every day.

For verily in this we groan, longing to be clothed upon with our habitation which is from heaven…For indeed we that are in this tabernacle do groan… that we would be clothed upon, that what is mortal may be swallowed up of life. … and knowing that, while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord …we are of good courageand are willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be at home with the Lord. Wherefore also we make it our aim, whether at home or absent, to be well-pleasing unto him. 2 Cor 5

For a couple of years now I have seen some college football teams wearing odd uniforms splotched with camouflage here and there, and with “names” like Honor, Courage, Integrity, Commitment, Service, and Duty sewn on the back where ordinarily the player’s name would have been. I have discovered that this is a joint effort with the Wounded Warriors Project, a nonprofit organization supplying programs and services to injured servicemen and their families. After the game, the uniforms are auctioned off and 100% of the proceeds go to the project.

What a worthy endeavor, yet wearing those uniforms has caused some amusement among sportscasters. At least twice I have seen “Integrity” commit a personal foul, and don’t believe for a minute that the announcers ignored all the possible jokes they could make about it.

That made me wonder what would happen if Christians wore uniforms. As much as I hate the way we take those lists we find in the New Testament (fruit of the Spirit, Christian “graces,” etc.) ignoring them as a comprehensive unit, and using them instead like individual casseroles on a buffet line from which we can pick and choose, what if one of those traits were printed on the backs of our jerseys? Would people find our actions so amusing? If “self-control” became angry and threw something across the room, if “mercy” gave as good (or as bad?) as he got, if “kindness” snarled at someone in his way, how would that effect the way others view the faith we so casually claim?

Wait a minute! This might actually be good for us. If each one of us had the trait we have the most difficulty with posted on our backs, maybe we would be aware every minute of the day and actually behave a little better. For you see, that is the problem with most of us. We go through our lives without thinking; we just react, and that is when the “automatic” happens instead of the new characteristic we are supposed to be developing. If we wore that jersey every day for a month, don’t you suppose “automatic” would become the right thing instead of the wrong thing?

So today, think what needs to be written on your back—not the thing you find easiest, but the thing you find the hardest to do, and pretend it is there every minute of the day. You see, your friends and neighbors are not ignorant of the personality a Christian is supposed to exhibit, and they know where you fall short. They see that very word on your back every moment and it is what they use as an excuse when you try to recruit them. Why would they want to be on a team where Integrity cheats on his taxes, where Commitment ogles the women in the office, and where Service never did a thing for anyone if it didn’t offer him a good return?

Put on your uniform every day. Remember what is written on your back, and do your best to live up to it.

Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,Phil 2:14,15.

Maybe this is one of those urban legends that everyone has heard from someone. I am really not certain, but Keith’s mother once told us about a young woman who began attending services with them with her three young children, the oldest about 6. She arrived just on time and left quickly. But unlike many of those types, she was always there, her children knew the basic Bible stories, and she herself was attentive to both class and sermon. In fact her keeping to herself seemed to be more a product of embarrassment than anything else.

My mother-in-law, astute observer that she was, had noticed something. The children were always neat, clean, and combed except for one thing—their clothes were always wrinkled. This was back before the day of permanent press and polyester. There is nothing quite as wrinkled as old-fashioned cotton—except maybe wrinkled linen—which was way beyond this woman’s means.

I forget now how she managed to ask. Maybe it was the offer of an iron, which I know she was generous enough to do. Knowing my mother-in-law though, she probably just came out and asked. However she did it, she got an answer.

The woman’s husband was not a Christian. He not only refused to attend services with her, he refused to get up and help her get the children ready. So every week after their Saturday evening bath, she dressed them for church and then put them to bed. The next morning it was easier to get the three tykes up and fed and herself dressed for church.

After all these years, I’ve heard nearly every excuse in the world for missing Bible classes or the morning services altogether. This young woman could have easily pulled two or three off the list and used them. So why didn’t she? I can think of three good reasons.

First, she loved the Lord. Nothing and no one was going to come between her and her Savior. She knew the perils of allowing excuses to keep her away from the spiritual nutrition her soul needed, and she was not so arrogant as to think she could feed herself with no help at all. “I can have a relationship with God without the church,” I have heard more times than I can count. She knew better.

And because she had her first priority correct, the others fell right in line. She loved her children, but more than that she loved her children’s souls. She had to combat not only the usual onslaught of the world, but the huge impact of a father’s bad example. She was still in her early 20s so she had probably married quite young, too young to really understand the challenges of this “mixed” marriage, maybe even so naïve that she thought “love would conquer all” and he would change easily. Now she knew better, but she was more than ever determined to save her children.

And despite it all, she loved her husband and his soul too. She knew that any little chink her armor would allow him the rationale he needed to remain apathetic to her faith. She understood Peter’s command in 1 Pet 3:1,2, Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, when they see your respectful and pure conduct. The more he resisted, the stronger she needed to be, and if taking her children to church in wrinkled clothes did the trick, then that’s what she would do.

This young woman shows us all that excuses can be overcome by pure will. Certainly we are not talking about the truly old, ill, and otherwise unable to go out either regularly or on occasion when there is truly a “bad day.” We are talking about people who allow a little, or even a lot of trouble to become too much trouble to serve God. I know many who work around the hurdles and snags that Satan throws in our paths. It costs them time, money, and a whole lot of extra energy, but they have their priorities straight. They know who comes first, and they understand that our modern “sacrifices” are an insult to the word.

If finding excuses comes easily for me, maybe I need to consider wearing some wrinkled clothes.

And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. But he said unto him, A certain man made a great supper; and he bade many: and he sent forth his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready. And they all with one consent began to make excuse…And the servant came, and told his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor and maimed and blind and lame. And the servant said, Lord, what thou didst command is done, and yet there is room. And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and constrain them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say unto you, that none of those men that were bidden shall taste of my supper. Luke 14:15-24.

I have several recipes that call for making a reduction sauce as the last step. The pan in which the meat was cooked is filled with broth or some other thin liquid, the drippings in the pan deglazed, then the sauce boiled down to half or less the original volume, and herbs or perhaps a pat of butter whisked in at the end. Not only is the sauce thickened, but most important of all, the flavors are concentrated. I have heard trained chefs say that the reduction sauce can make or break the final product.

I love those passages in the Bible where the writer seems to boil down a complex situation into two or three simple things. Suddenly everything becomes clear. I know what is important because the complex flavors are concentrated enough for me to distinguish them.

Micah writes what has to be the best of these concentrated passages in 6:6-8. With what shall I come before Jehovah and bow myself before the high God?Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will Jehovah be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has shown you, o man, what is good, and what does Jehovah require of you but to do justly, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.

` Far from releasing us from the minute details of God’s law, it says this, “Be righteous, be kind to others, and be humble before God.” What kind of man will argue with God about what He requires, or even consider that any part of His law does not need obeying? Certainly not a humble one.

James boils it down 1:27. Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is to visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction and keep oneself unspotted from the world.As is the case in many of this type of passage, the widows and orphans are symbolic of anyone who needs help. In that day and time they were the helpless ones, the ones their society often ignored and oppressed, so it was natural to use them as a synecdoche. Be kind to others, James said, and later on in more detail (chapter 2), help those who need your help, no matter what kind of help that might be, no matter how rich or poor, how important or unimportant by the world’s standards. But don’t forget to keep yourself pure, he adds, which can cover the gamut—anything from sexual immorality to sins of the heart to disobedience of any command of God. In seventeen words, he covers it all. Amazing.

Those verbal reductions are powerful. A list of commands or sins can often become ho-hum when we read them. Something in us instantly tries to categorize them and rank them. It becomes a matter of “what I can get away with” instead of what I need to do to be pleasing to God. But boil it down to a few words and suddenly it is all important. I need to focus on it all because it all hangs together or falls apart, something many of the Pharisees, and many of us, never seem to understand.

Those sauces poured over the dish right before serving have ceased to be individual ingredients. Instead they have become something else entirely, an amalgamation of ingredients blended so well they never separate. The goal for us is to become something new too, a person who no longer has to think about whether he will do right or wrong, but who automatically does it—a new creature who concentrates on goodness to man and humility before God, no longer questioning but instantly obeying from the heart.

Do you need a little more boiling?

And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? [And so Jesus himself boiled it down to this] You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets, Matt 22:35-40.

“Hear this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to your husbands, ‘Bring, that we may drink!’ ​The Lord GOD has sworn by his holiness that, behold, the days are coming upon you, when they shall take you away with hooks, even the last of you with fishhooks. ​And you shall go out through the breaches, each one straight ahead; and you shall be cast out into Harmon,” declares the LORD, Amos 4:1-3.

“Cows of Bashan”—that has to be one of my favorite lines in the Bible. I can just see the faces of these haughty women when that rough old country boy Amos spun that one out. There they lay on their silk cushions commanding even their own husbands to wait on them. These spoiled women have many sisters in spirit today. Just check out these other passages in Amos:Thus says the LORD: “For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals— Amos 2:6. Translation: I will punish you for not looking after those in need just so you could buy yet another pair of new shoes.​I will strike the winter house along with the summer house, and the houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall come to an end,” declares the LORD, Amos 3:15. Translation: I will destroy not just your upscale houses but also the cabin in the mountains, the condo on the beach, and the time share you visit every summer.“Woe to those who lie on beds of ivory and stretch themselves out on their couches, and eat lambs from the flock and calves from the midst of the stall, ​who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp and like David invent for themselves instruments of music, ​who drink wine in bowls and anoint themselves with the finest oils, but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph! ​Therefore they shall now be the first of those who go into exile, and the revelry of those who stretch themselves out shall pass away.” Amos 6:4-7. Translation: Disaster will come on those with the best and most expensively decorated homes, who eat lamb and veal—the most expensive meats in the market—who like to be entertained lavishly, who use the most expensive perfumes and makeups and judge their haircuts by who paid the most, yet are not concerned one iota over the spiritual state of this nation.

If you cannot see our culture in these verses, it may just be that you are one of these people, more concerned about what you can have here and now, about your status among the rest of the snobs, about your comfort and convenience than about your relationship with God. Those people broke their covenant with God, thinking that sacrifices and tithes (4:4) could make up for trampling on the needy in order to make even more money (5:11), or just ignoring them and blaming them for their own problems as we tend to do.

And they judged greatest among them those who spent the most on clothing and jewelry and perfume and homes and probably even manicures, while God’s Word shows us that great women are known for purity, for love, for strength of character, for teaching, for serving the poor, the ill, the weak, or even those who don’t deserve it at all.

We have now seen all four of the oracles God sent specifically to women—the manipulators, the high maintenance, the weak who cannot face facts, and the snobs who judge by society’s standards instead of God’s. I have known all four of them. The goal for me--and you--is to make sure we are never counted among them.

She rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens… She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong…She opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy…​Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come. She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness…“Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.”Prov 31:15,17,20,25-27,29.

And a certain man of the sons of the prophets said unto his neighbor in the word of the LORD, Smite me, I pray you. And the man refused to smite him. Then said he unto him, Because you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD, behold, as soon as you have departed from me, a lion shall slay you. And as soon as he had departed from him, a lion found him, and slew him, 1Kgs 20:35-36.

If you know your Bible, you know that is only the beginning of the story, but it was certainly the end of it for that second young prophet. Here is the hard lesson we all must learn: serving God is NOT for wimps. Sometimes God asks for difficult things. Sometimes they seem impossible. But God expects the impossible from us—the things you cannot do alone, He will help you with.

First century Christians understood this. Many of them converted knowing they might be thrown into prison or even the arena within a week. And us? We want promises of health and wealth. We demand a life where no one contracts a serious illness, where our homes never blow away in hurricanes or tornadoes, where jobs are never lost, accidents never happen, and babies never die. We want the reward now—the perfect life in the perfect place. Then we will consider serving God.

It doesn’t work that way and it never has. This prophet could not believe that God would ask him to strike his fellow prophet. “Why God would never…” you can hear him thinking just as so many say today. He found out there was something a whole lot worse when he didn’t have the gumption to do as he was told.

I have a feeling that a whole lot of people are going to meet the same lion he did.

As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God,” Luke 9:57-62.

A cooking magazine I read used to run a page of embarrassing mistakes its readers had made in the kitchen. I probably could have kept the page going for several years single-handedly.

I tend to become flustered when I have company. We had an older couple over for Sunday dinner once, sweet, kind people whom I should never have been nervous about at all. Everything was going well as I slid my homemade crescent rolls into the oven. Twelve minutes later I peeked in to see how they were doing and was horrified. I had covered them with a linen kitchen towel during their last rise and had forgotten to take it off.

I pulled them out, managed to remove the towel without mutilating my rolls, and slid them back in, but the damage was already done. They never did fully rise, instead becoming heavy and doughy and tasting faintly of freshly ironed cotton. “I thought maybe it was a new-fangled method I hadn’t heard about before,” said my sweet friend. Indeed—a new-fangled method that did not work very well at all.

Then there was the time I put a ten pound ham in the oven and very carefully set the oven timer backwards. Instead of starting at 10:00 and cooking till 12:30, it was rigged to come on at 12:30 and cook till 10:00. My twelve guests and I walked in at 12:15 to a stone cold ham. Aren’t microwaves wonderful? I sliced off enough to go around once, zapped them, and called everyone to the table while the rest finished nuking. At least I had managed to get everything else done on time.

And who could forget the first meal I cooked for Keith after our honeymoon? I pulled the meat loaf out of the oven, holding that brand new Pyrex loaf pan between those slick new oven mitts. I turned around a bit too quickly and, as I did, that pan slid out of my grasp and sailed across the room landing upside down in the floor behind the table. Keith managed to duck, but it was a portentous way to begin married life.

Yet all those embarrassing moments, and many, many others, are stories we laugh about now. In fact, most of them we were laughing about the same day, often within minutes of their occurrence. Look how well-balanced we are. No arrogance here, no stubborn pride. We can learn from our mistakes, even laugh at ourselves.

But let one person dare to disagree with us about a spiritual matter and that’s a completely different story. Our minds are made up; we won’t listen; we instantly dismiss any scriptural evidence we cannot otherwise explain away with, “That’s different.”

Let anyone dare to tell us we might have erred in our actions and things are even worse. Instantly we counterattack; instantly we rationalize; instantly we blame that person for our failure to behave as a Christian. If he had told us differently, we would have listened. Really now?

I can hear you and yes, you are right—these are NOT laughing matters, but that makes it even more important that we NOT get too angry to listen, or too ”hurt” to examine ourselves objectively. I can tell tales about my mistakes in the kitchen over and over, but heaven forbid (or is it some other place?) I actually consider another side to a disagreement or scrutinize my own actions and their motives.

Why can’t we share stories of change and enlightenment in spiritual matters? Why can’t we thank the ones who told us we were wrong instead of telling everyone else how horrible they are? Why is it that the very thing we say all the time, “I know I’m not perfect,” is the last thing we will ever admit?

Perhaps it’s because we don’t really believe it.

He is in the way of life who heeds correction; but he who forsakes reproof errs. He who hearkens to the reproof of life shall abide among the wise. He who refuses correction despises his own soul; but he who hearkens to reproof gets understanding, Prov 10:17; 15:31,32.

I was beginning to think it would never happen. We had one brief—very brief—cool snap in November, but then summer returned. We were still running the air conditioner in early January. Finally, the third week of the new year we had several days with lows in the low thirties, one where we never topped 41, and even a few snow flurries. Now, I said to myself. Now I can prune the roses.

You never prune the roses until they become dormant. I was not sure three or four days of cold was enough to put them in that state, but surely they were close simply because it was time, I reasoned, and the cold was not predicted to last beyond another 48 hours so my window of opportunity was small. So I took my clippers and went at it, cropping the thinner, more pliable stems and leaves—including those with some new red growth from the warm week before—and gave them the half to two-thirds haircut they need annually. It will be an anxious few weeks before I find out if I ruined them.

Dormancy is an interesting thing. Plants, or seeds right after harvest, go to sleep. For plants it happens with adverse conditions like low temperatures, drought, or low light. In order to conserve energy, the plant stops growing and sheds softer tissues, replacing them with hard wood, scales, and dried tissues. It puts on this suit of armor to protect itself. When conditions change, warmer temperatures or enough water to live on for example, the plant wakes up and resumes its normal growth.

After mulling it over one morning I decided that is our problem. We never go dormant. I defy you to study the Word of God deeply enough, and meditate long enough to reach new insights, by taking just five minutes a day to “read a chapter.” It won’t work. But instead of finding that precious time—instead of making it—we make excuses instead. We stay too busy with life to slow down and spend quiet time with God.

And Isaac went out to meditate in the field toward evening...Gen 24:63.

I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds, Ps 77:12.

My eyes are awake before the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promise, Ps 119:148.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer, Ps 19:14.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things, Phil 4:8.

And that is just a fraction of the verses that tell us we need to spend far more time with God than we do. How many times did Jesus spend all night praying? And if you have not had your prayers drift off into meditation, that may well be why you sit there thinking, “I could never pray that long.”

Look back at the advantages of dormancy. Dormancy is a period of rest for the plant. God knew we needed rest. He gave His people a day no other culture had, the Sabbath. When everyone else was working dawn to dusk just to survive in an ancient world, He took care of their basic survival that day (as when the manna did not spoil) so they could rest, so they could spend time with family and with Him.

Dormancy provides the plant with “a suit of armor,” protection during adverse conditions. If you wait until the crisis arises to consider your actions, you will invariably make poor decisions. Time to think ahead, recognizing your weaknesses and planning your “way of escape” can be critical to your spiritual survival. Meditation will give you that time to prepare yourself.

Dormancy gives the plant “anesthesia” for the painful tasks of pruning and grafting. Looking at yourself in the mirror is hard enough without being forced to in the middle of a spiritual emergency. Time alone to carefully consider and face your challenges can make the difference in whether you make the changes you need to or not. In the face of rebuke, too many of us consider it too painful to even consider the notion that we might need a little pruning of the character to please God.

And then there is the greatest benefit of all: time to develop a relationship with your Creator. I knew a young couple that broke off their engagement after realizing that they had absolutely nothing to talk about. A wise young couple, I think. If you haven’t spent enough time in His Word to have anything to talk to God about, don’t be surprised if He doesn’t break it off with you.

I remember the days of old; I meditate on all that you have done; I ponder the work of your hands. ​I stretch out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land--Selah, Ps 143:5-6.

On February 15, 1876 the Seth Thomas Clock Co received a patent for the first alarm clock. I doubt it was as beautiful a sound as the alarm clock I had one day last week when a wren sat on a limb outside my window and sang out its clear, loud, beautiful song. It wasn’t quite time to get up, but it was such a nice alarm clock I found myself in a much better humor all morning despite the early rise.

I thought throughout the day of the various “alarm clocks” I have had in my life—the gentle touch of a mother shaking me awake for school, the hand of a husband pulling me into a warm embrace a few minutes early, the cry of an infant letting me know he was hungry whether I was ready to get up or not! I remember when those cries turned into coos and laughing as those same babies woke and played quietly in their cribs before the hunger pains set in. Wonderful alarm clocks indeed.

Alarm clocks are not just for waking us in the morning. Alarm clocks for the soul have a much more serious job. I can remember moments in my life when a word was said, a scripture was read, or a thought from a deep meditation suddenly blared in my heart as loudly as any alarm clock on the bedside table. In one moment I knew I needed to make a change in my life, and I needed to do it quickly.

Keith has gotten so deaf that he can no longer hear an alarm clock. We bought one designed especially for the hearing impaired—the “Sonic Boom and Earthquake Alarm Clock.” He needs it for the few times a year I am not at home to hear for him. Even though the extra loud “sonic boom” alarm would have me plastered to the ceiling, he still cannot hear it, so he uses the “earthquake” part of the clock. A plastic disk about four inches in diameter lies beneath the mattress. When the clock reaches the set time, this pad begins to vibrate—not just a little massage, but a pulsing shake that can take your breath away. In fact, the company told us to lie on the bed and try it out while we were awake the first time. They had too many customers come close to a heart attack when their first experience with it came while they slept.

Sometimes it takes a good hard shake like that to wake us up. We are too good at rationalizing and too poor at applying the scriptures to our own lives. “But I didn’t mean…” “But it’s not the same thing as…” “But I would never do that…” escapes our lips too often for it to really be true.

The best alarm clock your soul can have is a trusted brother or sister in the Lord who is not blinded by his or her friendship with you, and whom you trust to tell you the truth for your own good, even when you don’t want to hear it. Far better to have a one of those than have the Lord send you an earth shaking event to wake you up. Neither a sonic boom nor an earthquake for the soul will be pleasant.

Get yourself an alarm clock and set it. Then listen for it.

Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light,Rom 13:11-12.

AuthorDene Ward has taught the Bible for more than forty years, spoken at women’s retreats and lectureships, and has written both devotional books and class materials. She lives in Lake Butler, Florida, with her husband Keith.